preservation maryland Faces Preservati n The of annual reporto 2013 Join Us! YOUR TAX-DEDUCTIBLE MEMBERSHIP will help expand the state’s economy, showcase its culture and define its future character. You’ll receive discounted admission to events, invitations to educational programs such as field trips and workshops, and communications about preservation activities throughout Maryland. To join, visit www.PreservationMaryland.org or call 410-685-2886. help us protect the irreplaceable! contents 3 8 10 12 A Message to Our Members and Donors 2 Year-At-A-Glance 3 Advocacy 4 Funding 6 Endangered Maryland 2013 8 Technical Assistance 10 Faces of Preservation 12 Preservation Powerhouses 14 Financial Statement 15 14 Members and Contributors 16 Board, Program Councils and Committees, and Staff 20 on the covers: The Orangerie at Wye House Farm, Talbot County, is protected by an easement held by Preservation Maryland. Architectural research was preservation maryland is dedicated performed prior to the recent replacement of the door on this rare early 18th to preserving maryland’s historic buildings, century building. Efforts such as these are made possible by Preservation neighborhoods, landscapes and archaeological Maryland’s members and supporters throughout the state – the faces of sites through outreach, funding and advocacy. preservation seen throughout this report. FOLLOW US: 24 W. Saratoga Street • Baltimore, Maryland 21201 • 410.685.2886 • fax 410.539.2182 • www.PreservationMaryland.org a message to our members and donors PRESERVATION MARYLAND IS ABOUT MUCH MORE than old buildings. In fact, our mission is dependent on people – our members and donors, volunteers, professionals in the field, and, of course, our board of directors and staff. This annual report describes some of the ways people accomplish our goals of preserving Maryland’s historic buildings, neighborhoods, landscapes and archeological sites. You will read about dedicated and determined individuals, coming together for the common goal of saving a part of our state’s unique heritage. Frankly, to us, they are heroes, and all Marylanders owe them a debt of gratitude. Besides conducting our traditional programs in advocacy, funding and outreach this year, described in these pages, we undertook two important initiatives. The first was the development and adoption of a transformational five-year strategic plan. (A copy of the plan is included in the ‘Publications’ folder under the ‘Media’ tab on our website.) The second initiative was a search for new headquarters. Thanks to the assistance of The William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, creator of the Baker Artist Awards (www. bakerartistawards.org), our board was professionally guided through a strategic planning process which lead to the adoption of a new strategic plan in September. The goals of the plan are to focus and energize us as Maryland’s statewide preservation organization by increasing the public awareness of the importance of historic preservation and our ability to deliver assistance at the local level. The plan has financially ambitious goals, and we will look to our longtime supporters as well as to new constituencies to help us achieve them. Perhaps it is appropriate that we undertake the work set forth in this new strategic plan in a new location. After nearly 27 years as a tenant of Old St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, we will be departing The Rectory that we helped to restore and furnish in 1987, and the church offices will assume the space we have occupied. Our relationship with Old St. Paul’s has been rewarding, a model for adaptive re-use of the 1795 rector’s residence. We will continue to use our resources to support historic preservation by relocating to a historic 19th century cotton mill along the Jones Falls in Baltimore City that has been converted to office space. We look forward to sharing more about our new location and welcoming visitors. Undeniably people are the most important element in preservation, and you — our donors and supporters — are the most important people to our organization. Thank you for your confidence in our continuing ability to lead the protection of Maryland’s priceless heritage. Sincerely, Henry R. Lord, Esquire Tyler Gearhart President Executive Director 2 PRESERVATION MARYLAND ➤ ➤ JaN Feb year A tour of repairs to Marylanders join earthquake damaged other American Baltimore City’s preservationists in Basilica of the Federal Preservation at-a Assumption Lobby Day GlaNce ➤ ➤ ➤ Mar apr May Washington Grove Preservation Author Gordon among Endangered Maryland board Bock’s lecture, The Maryland sites members visit Vintage House, selected for 2013 historic sites in co-sponsored by Prince George’s Preservation County Maryland ➤ ➤ JuN Jul National Park Students enroll Seminary’s new use in summer school as a retirement to learn messaging community focus for historic of field trip preservation ➤ ➤ auG sep Preservation Adoption of Maryland becomes Expanding Our a War of 1812 Reach – Increasing Bicentennial Our Value strategic Star-Spangled 200 plan led by Official Partner Charles Bryan ➤ ➤ ➤ oct Nov dec Annual Meeting A Salute to the Giving Tuesday at the Maryland Chesapeake draws produces new Historical Society preservationists to donors through celebrates Beauvoir, a historic social media outstanding property on preservation the Eastern Shore accomplishments 2013 ANNUAL REPORT 3 From the Ashes: revitAlized Business district advocacy 507 race street in cambridge escaped demolition and faces promising future SAVIng old BUILDIngs IS NEVER easY but the future of the neighborhood. Funding sources for the building’s rarely as complicated as the situation surrounding 507 Race preservation were identified, including Preservation Maryland, the Street, a modest but significant part of Cambridge’s historic Maryland Heritage Areas Authority and the National Trust for business district. The story of its preservation had all the drama of Historic Preservation’s Bartus Trew Fund. Inexplicably, the demolition a television production: an unsolved arson, an owner – the former order was reinstituted, preventing the title’s transfer and jeopardizing mayor -- disinclined to save the structure, permits granted then the funding and instruments necessary to move forward. denied, then granted again, and, of course, local preservationists To vault that hurdle, a defunct housing review board had to working feverishly for a happy ending. be reactivated. Rumors floated through the community about In Farrell McCoy’s estimation,“Preservation Maryland was peoples’ motives and how saving this property would compete critical to our success.” McCoy is president of Historic Cambridge, with other initiatives in the city. Legal negotiations ensued. Inc. Damaged by arson in December 2012, the handsome brick Finally, the demolition order was rescinded, and the property structure at 507 Race Street was built as the Skinner Brothers transferred to Historic Cambridge. Hardware Store. Later converted to apartments, the four-story building is the keystone in a block critical to the redevelopment “Preservation Maryland’s Eastern Shore Field Office is critically of the town’s business district. important where local preservation know-how is lacking.” Preservation Maryland’s Eastern Shore Field Director Elizabeth Beckley visited the site before the ashes were cold. “Preservation Maryland’s Eastern Shore Field Office is Historic Cambridge, Inc., had long hoped the property could be critically important where local preservation know-how is transferred to a preservation-minded owner and transformed lacking,” said McCoy. Planned is a community visioning effort to into a new use. Immediately after the fire, the city ordered determine the best use of the building, along with its neighbors the building’s demolition, and the owner applied to the city’s at 505 and 509 Race Street, in the process of being acquired by preservation commission for a demolition permit. Beckley Historic Cambridge. joined Historic Cambridge in testifying before the panel, urging Amanda Fenstermaker, director of Dorchester County a structural evaluation. Through these efforts, the demolition Tourism and Heart of Chesapeake Country Heritage Area, application was denied, and an order was imposed requiring reflected on her grandmother’s memories of Race Street as the certain repairs and safety measures. heart of a vibrant neighborhood. “Reusing 507 Race Street will Preservation Maryland, local preservationists and the owner be a catalyst for reviving a block with a treasure trove of historic negotiated the property’s donation to Historic Cambridge. State structures. Cambridge has lost so many historic buildings that we agencies agreed that saving 507 Race Street would be a catalyst for wish we hadn’t. None of us is better off if this building goes away.” 4 PRESERVATION MARYLAND We also advocated for: Baltimore city historic district designation legislation Belward Farm, Montgomery County Bloomingdale, Queen Anne’s County crittendon Place, Baltimore City harriet tubman national monument, Dorchester County howard county historic Preservation Plan, Howard County morris mechanic theatre, Baltimore City newtown historic district, Wicomico County Pine street national register historic district, Dorchester County Preservation society of Federal hill & Fells Point, Baltimore City silver spring Baptist church, Montgomery County st. luke’s A.m.e. church, Baltimore County the hill, Talbot County town of Federalsburg, Caroline County town of millington, Kent County town